NATO's Standing Maritime Group SNMG-2 and Standing Mine Countermeasures Group SNMCMG-2 will call in at the port of Constanta Feb. 1 - 2 in order to establish the details of the upcoming joint exercises due as part of the Black Sea missions, the Navy General Staff informed.
According to the said source the ships of NATO's two immediate reaction forces will call in the port of Constanta on Thursday, February 1 and on Friday, February 2 respectively, and representatives of the groups and of the ships that are part of the said forces will pay official visits to the Fleet Command and the Constanta local authorities.
The Standing NATO Maritime Group that includes the 'Regele Ferdinand' frigate, the British destroyer HMS Duncan and the Turkish Navy's frigate TCG Gaziantep are to perform January 30 through February 17 maritime surveillance operations and other specific activities, while the Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group, that also includes the 'Lt. Lupu Dinescu' minesweeper is due to carry out January 24 - February 13 maritime traffic monitoring activities in the Black Sea basin and implement standard procedures for this type of mission together with the crews of UK's multipurpose hydrographic survey vessel HMS Enterprise and of the Turkish minehunter TCG Akay, the cited source said.
After leaving port on Monday, February 5 the two Romanian vessels and the British and Turkish ships will take joint action in the Black Sea, carrying out exercises aimed at increasing the interoperability of NATO ships under the standing groups' sole command. To boost the complexity of the exercises the Romanian Air Force will join in with two MiG 21 Lancers.
Upon the completion of the missions the two NATO standing groups will visit Bulgaria's Burgas and Varna ports and will engage in joint exercises at sea with Bulgaria and Turkey's military ships.
AGERPRES .